Planetary Simulant Database
Free Resource for Regolith Simulant Information
Mineralogy
No data available
Bulk Chemistry
No data available
Physical Properties
More detailed physical properties are given in Oravec et al. (2010) and He et al. (2013)
| Property | GRC-1 | GRC-3 |
|---|---|---|
| Specific gravity | 2.58 | 2.63 |
| Minimum density (g/cm3) | 1.60 | 1.89 |
| Maximum density (g/cm3) | 1.89 | 1.94 |
GRC-1/3 Glenn Research Center
Simulant Name: GRC-1/3 Glenn Research Center
Availability: May Be Available
Fidelity: Basic
Developed By: Glenn Research Center
Available From: N/A
Publications: Oravec, H. A. et al. (2010), Design and characterization of GRC-1: A soil for lunar terramechanics testing in Earth-ambient conditions. Journal of Terramechanics, 47, 361-377.
GRC-1 and -3 are purely geotechnical simulants designed to test vehicle traction in lunar soils. They were developed by mixing different commercial silica sand products from the Best Sand Corporation in Chardon, OH. GRC-1 consists of 36% BS110, 8% BS530, 24% BS565, and 32% BS1635. GRC-3 is composed of 6% BS620, 10% BS2040, 16% BS565, 16% BS110, and 52% Bonnie silt (a natural loess from Burlington, CO).
It isn’t clear whether ‘GRC-2’ was ever produced or what it was made of. Because these are geotechnical simulants, the mineralogy and chemistry are not available, but pictures suggest the simulants are mostly quartz. A pair of papers describe the detailed geotechnical properties of both GRC-1 (Oravec et al. 2010) and GRC-3 (He et al. 2013). Significant quantities of both exist at the SLOPE lab at Glenn Research Center.
Images
Photograph of GRC-1 from Oravec et al. 2010:
